eszett

es·zett

 (ĕs′tsĕt)

n.

The letter ß, used in modern German orthography to represent the sound (s) when it occurs at the end of a syllable that has a long vowel or diphthong. (The sound (s) is otherwise usually represented by ss.)

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[German Eszett : German Es, the letter s (ultimately from Latin *es, probably the name for the letter s) + Zett, the letter z (ultimately from Late Latin zēta, the Greek letter zeta; see zed) (the letter ß being so called because it began its development as a ligature of certain forms of s and z in black letter script).]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.